Manchester City and Chelsea continue to produce and stockpile English players, but neither club seems keen to see the job through and select themWhen Ron Greenwood remarked, while responding to criticism for dropping the young Glenn Hoddle from his England team in 1979, that “disappointment is part of football”, he was widely derided for appearing to stifle the expression of creativity. But Greenwood knew what he was talking about, even if he chose the wrong words at the wrong time. Beneath them lay a truth that comes closer to the surface as the rewards for success in English football grow ever more outrageous.It’s a sad fact that young footballers sometimes have to gamble with their lives if they want to...
The 2016-17 season still had its drama – moments of brilliance and booming narrative arcs to be resolved – but it was less title race than well-ordered title jogFarewell, then, to the year that almost was. This was a Premier League season that sparked with a controlled excitement, never quite caught fire but still dished up another digestible slice of high-end product.Things kept on almost happening. Leicester City almost completed the most dramatic title-plus-relegation act of all time. But then it was all sort of OK. Marco Silva almost pulled off a minor managerial miracle – but somehow not quite. To great fanfare Tottenham Hotspur pulled to within one victory of being quite close to creeping up on Chelsea’s shoulder at...
The feisty Argentinian full-back made his City debut on the same day as the flaky Brazilian forward and has played every game since as if it was a privilegeOne of the endearing things about Manchester City, even in their present incarnation as global-scale wealth squanderers, is that every few years a player comes along whose bond with the supporters transcends the normal relationship between well-rewarded professionals and the paying audience.Pablo Zabaleta, who is leaving the club after nine years, is the latest in a series of terrace heroes that includes Colin Bell, Georgi Kinkladze, Uwe Rösler and perhaps even Shaun Goater. Not all of those players made the same impact, and maybe the expression ‘club legend’ fits some better than...
The idea that participation in Europe’s top club competition is less important to England’s top flight because of TV money dissolves on analysisThere is an emerging school of thought that qualification for the European Champions League is no longer quite the financial and commercial boost that it used to be, given the galactic increase in Premier League TV money showering fortunes on all 20 clubs from 2016-19.It is true the increase in the English top flight’s broadcasting deals, from £5.1bn in 2013-16 to £8.4bn in the present three-year cycle, is a dramatic windfall – inflated at home by BT’s serious designs on BSkyB’s 25-year subscriber stranglehold and internationally by increased coverage of the Premier League on channels all over the...
John Terry will say goodbye to Chelsea with the title, José Mourinho will pick his weakest team yet and Manchester City should tread carefully at WatfordThe best team in the league face the worst team in the league in a match that will be played in a carefree atmosphere by everyone except John Terry, whose 717th and final Chelsea appearance will end with him – together with Gary Cahill – lifting the Premier League trophy, followed by a teary-eyed farewell speech to the fans. Sunday is the end of an era for Terry, his club and their opponents Sunderland, relegated at last after 10 successive top-flight seasons. Terry’s beer-glass-emptying, disabled-bay-filling, rival-abusing, full-kit-wearing past means he gets little love from rival...